“It’s at least as bad” as the original – CBS San Francisco

MOUNTAIN VIEW (KPIX) – As the Delta variant of the coronavirus fuels an ongoing COVID wave, health experts in the Bay Area are closely monitoring another variant: Delta Plus.

“We think it’s at least as bad as Delta,” said Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease specialist at the University of California, San Francisco.

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“We don’t know yet if it’s even worse than Delta. When I say worse we think of number one: is it more transmissible? Second, is he immune to vaccines? And, number three, does it make you sicker?

The Santa Clara County Public Health Department has detected 46 cases of the Delta Plus mutation, according to their latest statistics. However, it is not the dominant strain in the region.

Santa Clara County provided KPIX with the following statement: “Santa Clara County is currently tracking Delta Variant and ‘Delta Plus’ Variants on our dashboard. Cases of Delta-plus exist statewide and nationwide, and there is currently not enough information on these particular variants to indicate whether they may be of more concern than the original Delta variant.

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“Having additional variants is to be expected with any virus,” said Dr Yvonne Maldonado, professor of global health and infectious diseases at Stanford University School of Medicine. “Just because there is a Delta plus doesn’t mean it will be better or worse. At this point, we just don’t know.

Both doctors expect more mutations to continue to occur until vaccination rates increase.

“Delta-plus is not the end of the story. Until more of us are vaccinated, we will have these reports of other weird Greek letters and Greek letter combinations – we might even be lacking in the Greek alphabet, ”Dr Chin-Hong said. “It sounds like a broken record, but we’re going to see these things pop up until more of us get vaccinated to kick them out of our communities.”

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“What we can do is get vaccinated and prevent ourselves from getting infected. This is how we prevent these viruses from mutating, ”said Dr Maldonado. “We just need to prevent the transmission of these viruses in order to reduce the risk of developing the next variant which could be worse than Delta and we don’t know if Delta-plus is this virus.”